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Funkin’s guide to Warlock

Base Chassis #

Hit Die
You have a squishy d6 for your HP, before Constitution. This is the first indicator that you will not be a tank when playing as a warlock. If you’re playing as a caster style you will be hanging back and avoiding melee, and if you’re playing as a bladelock you will be similarly using a ranged weapon or looking for some other means to avoid attention.

Proficiencies
You can use light armor and shields, and crucially you ignore spell failure when using light armor and small shields. You also get access to simple weapons, rapiers and whips. So your AC is typically going to be a little bit better than a wizard or sorcerer, but inferior to pretty much anything else. This is your second indicator that you are not a tank.

BAB
Warlocks have a ¾ attack progression, the same as clerics and rogues. This means you will have to pump up your attack stat (Charisma) and seek out sources of attack bonus (Eldritch Might, Weapon focus, etc) fairly heavily.

Saves
Warlocks are a Will-save class, with your spellcasting stat not being one associated with a saving throw and no special class features that boost your saves or provide immunities. In this regard you are a lot like a bard or sorcerer, and will need to rely heavily on feats and gear for your saves and immunities unless you dip into Paladin or Blackguard.

Skills
You only get 2 + Int skills per level, so you will have to be careful with what you sink points into. UMD is notably a class skill for you, and as a charisma based class you can make good use of this to get access to class or alignment restricted endgame items if you want.

Alignment (and race options)
You cannot be good. This combined with the number of races that do not increase charisma and in fact penalize it can be a limitation but there is still a solid selection to choose from:

  • Human is always reliable and helps with bonus skill points and a feat at no ECL increase
  • Tiefling and Drow are solid options that are both free and increase stats useful to you
  • Vampire and Lich both bring immunity to critical hits and stat increases valuable to you
  • Pixie allows for the maximum possible Charisma as well as immunity to mind effects
  • Celestial provides great stat increases and no penalties, though it prevents you from being a pure warlock

Spellcasting #

Eldritch Blast #

This is your bread and butter. This looks and acts a lot like a spell but isn’t quite a spell.

  • The blast itself is an attack against AC that relies on your warlock level and charisma. You can take weapon focus, improved critical and epic prowess to improve this attack roll but other sources like point blank shot, being mounted, bless and bard song will not.
  • You get an extra ray every seven warlock levels (8, 15, 22, 29 and 36). Each one uses your full attack bonus and has the extra damage from your Charisma
  • It has a casting time longer than a normal spell, haste makes it a bit faster.
  • You can select the primary target specifically when casting, or select a space which will pick a random target within the area. If multiple targets are within the area, each target will be served one ray while any remainder will be directed at the primary target
  • It does not provoke attacks of opportunity nor does it need concentration checks
  • It checks for spell resistance, but is not subject to spell mantles or immunity to spell levels

Warlock Spells Slots #

Warlocks are a special breed of spellcaster, very unique. Here’s the basics

  • You are an arcane caster, and your casting stat is Charisma
  • You ignore spell failure while you are using specifically light armor and small shields
  • You know your entire spell list, pre-selected for you. You don’t learn or prepare spells at all. The whole list is available to you at all times, including metamagic.
  • Your spell slots are a single pooled number rather than being split up by spell level, and they replenish over time instead of needing to rest. This means you can afford to be very liberal with your spells, and metamagic is especially good for you.
  • You do not get access to any bigbys, missile storms, save-or-dies, transformations, nor attack/weapon buffs like darkfire or arcane precision. This means you miss out on a lot of utility other casters can bring, so a Warlock is not a complete replacement for other casters.
  • At level 30 you gain a free +1 to your spell DCs, and at level 40 a further +2. This boost does not apply to the DCs of your eldritch blast pacts, just your spells.

Warlock Unique Spells #

  • Armor of Agathys (1st): Indefinite duration, provides you a chunk of THP and when creatures hit you in melee they take cold damage until the THP is gone. Solid spell.
  • False Life (1st): indefinite duration, provides you another chunk of THP. Between this and AoA above, you can almost double your HP pool. And you will want to be doing that!
  • Cloud of Daggers (2nd): Small area soup spell, like a miniature blade barrier. Scales for a lot of slashing damage but allows for a reflex save and thus is subject to evasion on top of being affected by slashing resistance.
  • Misty Step: (2nd) Short range teleport. Amazing utility to have on hand that costs you nothing, and there is a pact that can add a good chunk of damage for combat use.
  • Hunger of Hadar (3rd): Medium area soup spell, silences and slows with some decently scaling damage as well. A versatile and useful soup ingredient.
  • Shadow of Moil (4th): This takes the place of Improved Invisibility, offering a combination of miss chance and extra thorns damage. It’s only for yourself though.
  • Sickening Radiance (5th): Your third unique soup spell, automatically removing invisibility effects within its area and dealing a good chunk of positive damage over time.
  • Synaptic Static (7th): A great combination of blast and debuff, the unavoidable pure damage rivals ice storm before resistances and the save (at a bonus DC matching imprisonment) is only against the AB/saves reduction.
  • Entropic Warding (8th): Makes you completely immune to ranged weapons for a short time. Its brief duration and the general rarity of threatening archer type enemies makes this spell much more specialized, but great to have for those occasions.
  • Imprisonment (9th): Higher than normal DC, single target spell that both stops the victim and throws in some damage for good measure. If the target isn’t paralyzed they can still be immobilized.

Dark Pacts #

Your choice of pacts determine what sort of playstyle you will be developing with your warlock. There are three broad categories: the ones that improve your eldritch blast, the ones that reduce your spell slot usage, and the ones that follow the pact of the blade. The three paths will intertwine somewhat, and there is one exception (Devil’s Sight). You get six to choose from in pre-epic levels, and epic warlocks can pick a Pact as one of their bonus feats (or instead get Great Charisma, Epic Spell, Epic Spell Focus or Epic Energy Resistance).

  • Agonizing Blast: Adds the other half of your CHA to each EB ray’s damage. Worthwhile.
  • Armor of Shadows: Armor of Agathys is a solid multipurpose spell, Mage Armor is +1 AC. Your slots come back fast though, and if you’re completely dry this won’t actually let you cast them. Niche.
  • Baneful Blast: Adds a chunk of damage when you misty step near a target (average 220 damage at lvl 40, cannot apply metamagic), but allows Reflex for half and now you’re standing near your target. Niche (bladelock).
  • Beshadowed Blast: Each target of your EB rays makes a save vs being blinded. Bosses aren’t all universally immune to Blindness, but you don’t get native access to sneak attacks or pickpocket to make good use of that blindness yourself. Niche.
  • Binding Blast: Each target of your EB rays makes a save vs being stunned. You would be surprised what you are able to stun! Worthwhile.
  • Brimstone Blast: Each target of your EB rays have a chance of adding lingering fire damage (doesn’t stack). Worthwhile.
  • Comfort Elements: None of the elemental protection spells are good enough to cast during combat, and there are items for preptime usage. Your slots come back fast, and if you’re completely dry this won’t actually let you cast them. Waste.
  • Deteriorating Blast: Each target of your EB gets a reduction in their damage protection, adding to Blade Pact and party damage output. Worthwhile.
  • Devil’s Sight: Provides permanent See Invisibility, Ultravision and a sizable bonus to Spot. You don’t have native access to those spells and they won’t get dispelled, plus this could dovetail into God’s Eye Scout if you wanted to go down that path. Niche.
  • Dread Seizure: Each target of your EB takes AC/AB and speed debuff, which increases your own and party damage output and helps keep affected targets within soups (which you are good at casting). Worthwhile.
  • Eldritch Cone: Alters the dynamics of your EB such that it hits everything in the cone once (at higher than per-beam damage) rather than splitting a ray to each secondary target while the remainder stack onto the primary. There is no attack roll, no saving throw and it has a normal casting time which can make up for the loss in damage and range. Niche.
  • Eldritch Might: Adds to Blade Pact Attack Bonus, and bonus Fear Immunity while it’s active. Worthwhile (bladelock)
  • Epic Agonizing Blast: Adds more Cha again to EB damage. Worthwhile.
  • Epic Fiendish Vigor: Some extra regeneration and 5% physical immunity. The 21 Con requirement is a big opportunity cost, and this isn’t going to suddenly turn you into a tank. Niche.
  • Explosive Blast: Adds some extra AoE to your EBs, despite it already doing a good job at managing multiple targets within its area. It does, however, also trigger other pacts that rely on an EB hit. Niche (bladelock)
  • Fiendish Vigor: False life is a good amount of THP, and some extra regeneration isn’t much but it’s something. Your slots come back fast though, and if you’re completely dry this won’t actually let you cast it. Niche.
  • Gift of the Protectors: Most of the time you would want to be using Gate which isn’t one of the summon spells offered here, and you shouldn’t be needing to do this a lot during combat. Your slots come back fast though, and if you’re completely dry this won’t actually let you cast them. Waste.
  • Hideous Blow: Chance to add an EB to your Blade Pact attack, including all the riders you may want to add on like blind, stun, prone, etc. Worthwhile (bladelock).
  • Knocking Blast: Each target of your EB makes a save vs being knocked prone. Expect KD immunity to be somewhat common, but landing one of these is still a plus DPS for you and a minus DPS for the enemy. Niche (blastlock)
  • Lifedrinker: Adds some pure damage to your Blade Pact and vampiric regeneration based on your Con. Worthwhile (bladelock)
  • One with Shadows: Invisibility, and you could have any number of items that also provide this. Your slots come back fast though, and if you’re completely dry this won’t actually let you cast them. Waste.
  • Pact of the Blade: This acts like Weapon Finesse, but using Charisma for a single weapon of your choice (melee or ranged). This is what sets you down the path of the bladelock.
  • Relentless Dispelling: These spells aren’t going to make much of an impact during dungeons or raids. Your slots come back fast though, and if you’re completely dry this won’t actually let you cast them. Waste.
  • Thirsting Blade: Extra Attack for blade pact, at your highest attack bonus, no strings attached. Worthwhile.
  • Vitriolic Blast: Your EB ignores spell resistance. You aren’t going to have that many problems if your caster level and casting stat are full. Niche (multiclass Warlock).

Feats #

  • Attack Boosts (Weapon Focus, Epic Prowess, etc): Both blastlocks and bladelocks will be needing these to increase their hit chances.
  • Save Boosts (Luck of Heroes, Iron Will, etc): Very important for you unless you multiclass into Paladin or Blackguard to leverage all that Charisma into saves
  • Blind Fight: Even Eldritch Blasters will need to deal with miss chance (it’s on the dev’s to-do list), unless you plan on using Ice Storms, Synaptic Static and a lot of spell restore potions.
  • Metamagic: Metamagic works wonders with how the warlock’s spell slots function. Maximize is generally a little bit stronger than empower for your purposes, and still can be used to get around your armor/shield restrictions.
  • Great Charisma: A pure warlock should be able to comfortably get at least 8 of these, and Charisma is used for a lot of things on a warlock. Aim to use these to get your final Cha to at least 50 (including +12 from items).
  • Epic Spells: Warlocks have unique access to all epic spells, so you can choose what you like!
  • Epic Spell Focus: Conjuration is the obvious pick to get your summons buffed up, which also happens to affect your soup spells.
  • Durability Boosts (Toughness, Energy Resistance, etc): You can get a noticeable increase in your longevity by leveraging these feats, but the investment cost gets progressively more steep for diminishing returns. Proceed with caution.

Multiclassing #

  • Paladin: Divine Grace, Smite Evil and Divine Might/Shield heavily incentivises Charisma, but a paladin typically needs to counterbalance that with their attack stat being strength or dexterity as well as the wisdom needed for their spellcasting and constitution required to not die. With one level in bladelock, there’s one less stat requirement in this balancing act, though you will still need at least 13 Strength to qualify for Divine Might. Do note that this will require alignment changes.
  • Bard: A bard usually has to choose if they are going to focus more on Charisma and their casting, or dex and their weapon. With one level in bladelock, they can do both! This does mean their AC and Pickpocket drops from lack of dex however.
  • Blackguard: Your tons of charisma feed nicely into the BG’s feats and features, you enjoy a full BAB plus sneak attacks and a good summon to use it all with, and you can still use a ranged weapon. The biggest challenge is fitting in the requirements but a level of monk or a race like minotaur should do it, and you may even be able to sink some points into Wisdom to use (extended) Divine Cruelty. The combination of Pact of the Blade, Dark Blessing, Divine Might and Divine shield (of Steel) to make Charisma your one-stop shop for all your character sheet numbers is very potent (note: you still need Str 13 and want Wis 12 however).
  • Arcane Archer: You can blade pact a bow and drow is a good choice for a warlock! This also means you get to stand out of melee and can work up a good attack bonus, but take note that AA doesnt provide you great charisma from its bonus epic feat list.
  • Skald: If you want to TWF as a bladelock, this isn’t a bad way to go about it while keeping pure set bonuses. Your Charisma contributes to your song effectiveness, you can blade pact a Two-Sword, Double-Axe or Dire-Mace, and Skald adds a bit to your skills, saves and resilience with its features.
  • Pale Master: You qualify to go into Pale Master, and Warlock spellcasting progresses via PM. You gain 1 additional caster level each 2 PM levels. PM won’t make you able to learn new spells as a warlock though.
  • Dwarven Defender: There is a small bit of synergy here leveraging your THP and thorns spells alongside the soak and thorns of Defensive Stance. This also lets you lean harder into Constitution than your typical warlock. It’s not ideal, but you might enjoy it.

Quickslots and Routines #

  • Consider setting up a Fast Casting slot with Armor of Agathys, False Life, Shadow of Moil, and up to three more of Shadow Shield (if you aren’t undead), Protection From Evil (if you are missing Mind Immunity or are summoning Balors with Gate) and Energy Buffer (if you have a slot to spare).
  • Your primary set of quickslots should include Eldritch Blast, Imprisonment, one or two other blasts of your choice, one or two summons of your choice, and at least two soup spells of your choice. This still leaves plenty of space for heals, eldritch Cone/Might, etc.
    You can use a secondary quickslot set (Ctrl or Shift) for invisibility, misty step, dispel, resurrections, player menu, and so on.
  • Your modus operandi for clearing mobs should be getting their attention with an Eldritch Blast before rotating in your other spells or using your blade pact weapon. For boss rooms, lay down your soup early and often. If you see your health bar actually going down, you have run out of THP and should reapply your False Life and/or Armor of Agathys.

Itemization #

  • If you’re spending BT for socket gems at Glendario, prioritize Eldritch Blast damage over Slot Cooldown gems. Your Mainhand/Armor/Neck set bonus does a bit of cooldown reduction too.
  • For levelling, its great to have a Satchel of Bones and a Special Blue Pill on hand
  • An Amulet of the Supporter is great to have, allowing you to enjoy all the benefits of a mount without needing to invest in the skill or feat
  • The big immunities (Death, Knockdown, Mind Spells) should be your primary concern, thus make sure to pick up warding belts, dragon paws, death shroud, etc.
  • Elder Wyrm Robes and Galdor’s Rings are quest items that provide bonus XP gain for levelling, and the robes are useful before you upgrade to green/purple armor.
  • Sources of Improved Invisibility, Flame Weapon and Bless weapon are useful to apply to your summons.
  • If you are aren’t a bladelock, consider getting a Staff of High Sorcery, Soldiers Might mace or halfling rock flinger
  • Once you can afford a home with an arcane bond, remember that Control Undead and Dominate Monster are spells you have access to, with a good DC if you are a pure Warlock too. To get started, I recommend a demon from the Chaussalin Vault or an Azer Guard from the Bronze Celestial chest.
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